Swallow Me Up
by Kou-kun
Summary: FULL FIRST CHAPTER! That's right, the previewed 'swallow me up' is finally here! Sakura is having a tought time and needs support from those closest to her.


Sakura stared at her feet as she walked home from training. A small smile crept across her face as she lifted her eyes, daring to look up to the sky. The sky was a piercing blue, so crystaline that Sakura felt she could shatter it like glass. She widened her smile at the beauty surrounding her, and for the first time, she respected Konoha's uniquely classic scenery. She glanced at the autumn leaves as they swayed on their branches, the gentle fingers of the wind flickering them in a collage of beautiful colours.   
  
As she arrived at her house, Sakura's smile had grown to it's widest point. Her eyes were shining with true happiness, and she walked up the steps to her porch with a spring in her step. Flinging her keys out of her leg-pack, she unlocked the front door and skipped in.   
  
"Ka-saan! I'm home!" There was silence.  
  
"Mum?" More silence. Sakura noticed a note tacked to the railing of the stairway. She walked over, her smile gone and her mouth hanging curiously open. She pulled the tack out of the wood and threw it to the wastebasket nonchalantly, reading the note as she climbed the stairs to her room.  
  
'Sakura-chan,' it read; 'Your father and I are going to a dinner party at the Yanamaka's place tonight. We did a successful business deal with them and decided to celebrate. If you get bored, Ino is going to be there all night, so feel free to come. Love you, from your dear mother.' Sakura grumbled and crumpled up the note, tossing it into the wastebasket as she passed the washroom.   
  
"Oh yeah, I'm just DYING to see Ino-pig." Sakura mumbled to herself sarcastically, and slammed her bedroom door behind her. The beauty of the afternoon was gone from her point of view, the day was ruined. She remembered how her parents had been so enthousiastic about the business deal with that Yanamakas.  
  
" 'Oh, Sakura-chaaan!'" Sakura mimiced her mother and waved her arm around gaily. "'We're going to be so filthy riiich now that we made one lousy business deal!'. It figures how they forgot about tonight." Sakura walked over to her calendar and scratched out the circled date vigorously. Barely distinguishable underneath the furious pen scratches were the words 'Dinner with mom at the Formal Ichiraku!!' Surrounded in stars. A new restaurant had recently opened, nicknamed 'The Formal Ichiraku'.   
  
Sakura didn't see her parents much, they had opened a small decorating business and were almost always on the job. They took loans from the Yanamaka's flower shop, and in exchange gave them full credit for floral designs, and even gave them a percentage of their profits to pay off the loan. When they'd finally gotten a three-days' break, Sakura's mother had promised to take her to the new restaurant. Sakura had always been close to her mother, and in the midst of her mother's business and her training, Sakura missed her dearly. She sighed and collapsed onto her bed, hugging her pillow and closing her eyes to hold in the tears.   
  
The phone rang. Sighing, Sakura stood up from her bed to answer it. Holding back a sob, she grabbed the phone and muttered "Haruno Residence" monotonously.   
  
"Hey Sakura-chan!!" Naruto's voice yelled through the phone, and Sakura held it away from her ear, squinting.  
  
"Hi Naruto." She talked with a tone of disgust in her voice. Naruto had grown on her quite a bit over the past few months of being on the same team, but Sakura was in no mood to handle his.. err... outgoing personality.   
  
"Sakura-chan! Do you want to come to the Ichiraku with me?? Iruka-sensei just gave me some money!" Naruto yelped, his grin apperent even through the telephone. Sakura pondered his offer, contemplating the outcome of even possibly going.   
  
'I have nothing else to do... maybe it will take my mind off things...' Sakura thought, the phone line silent.   
  
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, still awaiting a reply. Sakura was stirred out of thought and stumbled over an answer.   
  
"Umm.. Sure wh-" Sakura was interrupted by Naruto yelping out a joyful laugh, and soon he was talking again.  
  
"Okay Sakura-chan! I'll be right there and we'll walk together, okay Koibito?"   
  
Sakura fumed. She gripped the phone with white knuckles and started yelling into the receiver.  
  
"NARUTO!!!! I AM NOT YOUR SWEETHEART!!!!" She slammed the phone down and stormed into her room, sighing and flopping down on the bed. She hugged her pillow and shut her eyes tight, forcing the tears back.  
  
"Stupid family... leaving me with this stupid Naruto and his stupid assumations..." She tried to continue mumbling, but was cut off by sobs. She sat there, huddled around a tearsoaked pillow, and sobbed through the thick material of her blankets. Flashes of her once-close family shot through her mind, and finally she stopped sobbing. She stood up and smoothed out her hair, grumbling at her reflection in the mirror.  
  
"Oh come ON, Sakura, it's not that big a deal.." She scolded herself, wiping her eyes and making her bed. "they're only busy is all." She said this, halfway believing herself until her hand brushed across a photo standing on her nightstand. She paused, tears welling up in her eyes.  
  
"Ka-san.." She whispered, sitting down on the ege of her bed as her once-dry eyes let the tears drop onto the framed photo. In it stood Sakura, 10 years old, being hugged by her mother from behind. Her mother's arms were wrapped tightly around her neck and shoulders, and her smiling face was smothing Sakura in kisses.   
  
  
  
Sakura was unaware of a figure leaning in the doorframe, watching her back as she sobbed.   
  
"You two were close, ne?" Sakura jumped, dropping the picture and watching as the frame shattered. She quickly leaned over and swept up the glass with her hands, not noticing the cuts as she desparately tried to save the frame, acting as if she was saving the very relationship it portrayed.   
  
"Sakura-chan! Slow down!" Naruto ran over to a crying Sakura and pulled her back from the glass turning her toward him and taking her wounded hands in his. He looked her in the eye and sat with her, waiting for her sobs to subside. When the room quieted, Naruto looked down at the shards of glass.  
  
"I'm sorry for scaring you, Sakura-chan. Here, let me help you..." Naruto ripped a length of material off of his shirt and tied it to Sakura's right hand, which was bleeding worse than the left. Sakura shuddered in a silent sob, with no more tears left to fall. Naruto ran to the kitchen and grabbed a dustpan, hurrying back to clean up the glass.  
  
"Really, I'm sorry." Naruto gazed up at Sakura for a moment, watching her as she stayed silent. She closed her eyes and gripped her wounded hand sadly, as she muttered  
  
"It's ok.."   
  
Naruto walked up to her and slowly sat down beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "No, it's not okay, I ruined something that meant a lot to you." He turned her face towards him.   
  
"Tell you what. If you're still up for it, I'll take you out and buy you a new frame. Is that okay?"   
  
Sakura smiled meekly and wiped her eyes. "Sure.. just.. can we do it tomorrow? I'm sorta not up to it right now..." She sniffled and stood up as Naruto nodded, smoothing her hair and helping him up. "Thanks."   
  
Naruto and her walked to the door in silence, and as Naruto walked outside, he waved semi-happily.   
  
"See you tomorrow, Sakura-chan. Cheer up." He wore a wide grin, returning to his normal self. Sakura closed the door and sighed exhaustedly, entering her room to grab her training equipment. "I need to work off this stress."   
  
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"EE!" Sakura flipped up, her hair flinging in front of her face. Reaching into her pack and back under her leg in a flash of a second, She flung a kunai at a nearby tree, falling downwards and bouncing off of the jutted-out kunai to land on an adjecent branch. She jumped up again, flipping over the clearing and grabbing a handful of shurikens, landing on a wide tree branch and standing still. She paused, listening. Hearing a rustle, she subconciously flung the kunais. Panting, she looked at her victim, who evidently had puffed into a log. Feeling a tap on her shoulder, she turned around.   
  
"Sasuke-kun! I'm so sorry! I mean, I heard someone coming when I thought I'd been alone a-" She was cut off by Sasuke sighing, and closing his eyes, annoyed.   
  
"Sakura." The green eyed girl paused mid-sentence, glancing at him.  
  
"Nani?"   
  
"Be quiet. I was just passing by." He opened his eyes and stared at her for a moment, causing the girl to blush. "I'm leaving now." He jumped up, and before she had a chance to finish saying   
  
"Goodbye, Sasuke-kun", Sakura was left alone. All that made it out of her mouth was "Goodbye Sas-" Before she stood looking at his silhouetted figure in the distance. "uke.. kun?"  
  
As Sasuke leaped away, his brain was centred on one thought.   
  
'Sakura? Training?' He pondered to himself, reviewing the options. 'Did Kakashi finally get through to her? Did she finally realize that she needs to commit? No...' Sasuke tried to shrug the thought off. It was probably nothing big.   
  
What kept him thinking, though, was her stubbornness. He'd hidden in the bushes for 3 hours, watching her as she persisted attacking the tree facing him. By the time he made himself known, The girl was covered in sweat, and the tree was punctured almost 200 times over.  
  
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A/N - Stopping here because I wanna post some newer stuff... publicity, ya know? I need a favour from you all though! I want some feedback on what you guys think of me. I want you to tell me in a review or in an email what you think of my writing and what stories of mine you've read. It'd mean a lot to me! 


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